Poll: How long did it take you to make a living from translation? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How long did it take you to make a living from translation?".
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Straight away (I started in-house)...
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you are not going to go freelance without having any permanent (in-house) position first.
When I saw that my freelance-related workload had been growing steadily, I left the company - just because I could earn much more as a freelance translator.
| | | | | Other - no time at all | Aug 27, 2015 |
Like Teresa, when I early-retired from my in-house translation job on a Friday, I had work waiting for me the following Monday. It was a large contract. That was 23 years ago, and I've hardly had a break since.
[Edited at 2015-08-27 08:45 GMT]
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 05:25
Spanish to English
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I don't really know. I was working as a TEFL trainer before getting into translation full time, which happened gradually.
| | | | Paul Stevens 
Local time: 04:25
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Previous career | Aug 27, 2015 |
I worked in international insurance with Lloyd's brokers for 20 years before deciding, at the end of the 1990s, on a change in career. I had no clients to take with me, so, to supplement my income whilst trying to secure a decent level of income from my translating business, I took on various other part-time jobs for 2 or 3 years, which I ditched when I reached the required level of income from my freelance work.
| | | | | Judging from all the doom-mongers on ProZ... | Aug 27, 2015 |
... a more pertinent question might be how long you think it will be before you are no longer able to make a living from translation...
Not long, in my case, what with all the hoards of one-cent-a-word Swe-Eng finance specialists waiting in the wings in the Third World.
Back on topic, translation paid the rent from day 1, thanks mainly to work from my previous employers.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 23:25
English to Spanish
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It took me more than a year to land my first few clients as an independent translator in New York City. Why so long?
1) I had arrived at the Big Apple in December 1990 with no job prospects; but I had a place to stay and my father agreed to support me until I found a job (not a translation job per se, mind you).
2) After spending a whole year sending about a hundred and one typewritten resumés and attending monthly meetings of the New York Circle of Translators,... See more It took me more than a year to land my first few clients as an independent translator in New York City. Why so long?
1) I had arrived at the Big Apple in December 1990 with no job prospects; but I had a place to stay and my father agreed to support me until I found a job (not a translation job per se, mind you).
2) After spending a whole year sending about a hundred and one typewritten resumés and attending monthly meetings of the New York Circle of Translators, I started making some reliable contacts.
3) Around December 1991, one of those contacts, a Spanish interpreter, gave me the contact information of a small agency in Queens that was looking for a bilingual employee for a bank. Not a translation job, but, hey, I was going to take it!
4) I landed a 4-hour-per-week part-time proofreader job with the agency (it took some convincing) in January 1992. I stayed with the agency until November 1992, when I got a 9,000-word technical translation job, my first project.
Then I started getting phone calls by word of mouth. With the additional increase in income, I was able to leave Brooklyn for the Upper East Side (Manhattan). I made it in New York, all the facts supported it. That gave me the big boost of confidence to keep working as a translator for the next 24 years. ▲ Collapse
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I don't make a living from translation.
| | | | Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 05:25
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
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SITE LOCALIZER | within the first month | Aug 27, 2015 |
I was forced by circumstances and had no other choice. I was alone with my first baby and he had a congenital disorder. There was no choice and no time to think.
| | | | Billh
Local time: 04:25
Spanish to English
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| Had to learn Spanish first from scratch - | Aug 27, 2015 |
and that took two years - then plunged in and started working with agencies. I couldn't cope with being in-house - that would mean having a boss, going to an office, etc. Not my style.....
| | | | Paul Dixon
Brazil
Local time: 00:25
Portuguese to English
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I don't make a living from translation, I just pay bills.
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Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 00:25
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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I lived with my brother for the first two years after graduation, and translation was a secondary source of income. Then I opened a beverage distribution company, and spent 11 years without touching a translation. Then, I left the company and started doing translations again, but again as a secondary source of income.
Only less than three years ago, I decided to give up in-house jobs and dedicate myself full time to translation, and I'm living exclusivley on that ever since.
So, I re... See more I lived with my brother for the first two years after graduation, and translation was a secondary source of income. Then I opened a beverage distribution company, and spent 11 years without touching a translation. Then, I left the company and started doing translations again, but again as a secondary source of income.
Only less than three years ago, I decided to give up in-house jobs and dedicate myself full time to translation, and I'm living exclusivley on that ever since.
So, I really cannot answer this question with anything but "Other". ▲ Collapse
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